The Dark Dragon Paladin: Mirajane Strauss x Male Reader x Erza Scarlet

Chapter 6

Mirajane was in a void.

Images flashed across her vision, and she struggled to make sense of them until she realized she was dreaming.

She saw the events that transpired during the S-Class Promotion Trial. 

The attack by Grimoire Heart and then by the great dragon Acnologia. She saw her guildmates. They were hurt and beaten but still stood together.

She saw her siblings, Elfman and Lisanna. They were calling out to her and reaching for her hand. "MIRA! MIRA! MIRA!"

Suddenly, her eyes opened, but she still heard a voice. "MIRA! MIRA, WAKE UP! MIRA!"

She fixed her eyes on her guildmates standing over her, but something was different. They looked so much... older.

"Mira! You're awake!" Bisca exclaimed in relief. Tears streamed down her cheeks, along with everyone else's.

Mira sat up and was stricken with aches all over her frame. "Bisca?" she muttered. "What happened?"

"We've been looking for you guys for seven years!" Alzack announced. "We thought you were dead!"

"Wait," Mira muttered in confusion. "What?"

"You must have been unconscious the entire time," Bisca concluded. "It's amazing! None of you seem to have aged a day!"

Mira looked around and saw the other members tending to those who had been with her during the Trial. Her siblings were awake nearby and looked just as confused as she was. "How is that possible?" she wondered aloud.

"Tenrou island was concealed by a powerful spell," Alzack said, pulling her back from her thoughts. "We were about to give up until Blue Pegasus showed up, telling us the island was still here somewhere."

Mira was still terribly confused. She was having trouble registering everything being said.

"They brought us something else too," Alzack continued.

"Huh?" Mira muttered. The statement struck her curiosity.

She followed Alzack's gaze as he turned his eyes to a rock ledge overlooking the clearing where they sat. Atop that ledge stood a cloaked, shadowy figure. 

There were many differences. His hair was much longer, and his body was more muscular. Many new scars were visible on his face, abdomen, and arms - with a white bandage wrapped around the majority of his right arm. He now wore a white bandanna across his forehead. His normal brown, leather, shoulder pads had been replaced by black ones of a harder and shinier, armor-like material, and he wore his sword in a black metal sheath on his hip.

He looked so different, but Mira, along with her comrades from the trial, knew him instantly.